UPDATE:
Sorry for the delay-but I finally have an update. Thank you for all your responses.

I finally got paid today for the May shop. After several emails- and a couple of phone call attempts- I sent a screenshot in an email showing the company what I was seeing on my end in bill.com. David, the owner, emailed me to apologize . There was a systems error followed by a human error that resulted in my payment being so late. I hope that whatever it was is cleared up and that it doesn't happen again.

I get my shops them now through gig spot and gig spot does not allow me to put in a help ticket via their own website hence I have to use other means to contact them. I've noticed some strange things happen in gigspot-today all my shops disappeared -even the one I was supposed to submit today. Gigspt had been hanging onto some of my completed shops and showing them as overdue even after they were submitted, and , in some cases, paid. Makes me wonder if this might have been a factor in my delayed payment...




I completed a shop in May that was processed and invoiced by June 16. As per policy they said it would be sent to bill.com by July 31. As of today nothing from bill.com about payment. I did contact Sentry via email - no number to call is being provided- and asked about payment last week and I asked again today as nothing has shown up. They just said "soon" ...


Has anyone else who completed work for them that was invoiced in June been paid or had payment issues... this is a well known retailer shop so I don't think the retailer forgot or delayed payment.

TIA for any help!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2017 04:56AM by TexGmn.

I received payment on Aug 3rd for a shop submitted on June 16th. Sometimes I get paid a little later than expected, but I've always been paid. They'll come through for you.

Is the information about your bank account correct? I set up a link from bill.com to my checking account so the payments go there. Never had a problem.

Anytime a MSC doesn't pay on time, one ought be concerned. Late payment points to several problematic realities.

Disorganization at the MSC is a possible cause, such is worrisome because it points to poor management and one must wonder if they are that bad it doing something so simple at paying the bills how can they possible serve their clients. More concerning, however, are to other conditions which late payments suggest. First, that the MSC does not care about its vendors; an entity that does not care about its vendors is just as likely to not care about its employees or its customers and may soon be off to the dust bin. Second, that the MSC is not only suffering from poor cash flow but has management that is not wise enough to have secured a bank line-of-credit to even out cash flow (or was deemed not credit worthy by the banks) and is not ethical enough to suspend payment to the MSCs management and owners before defaulting on responsibilities to microvendors.

Whatever the cause, whenever an MSC is past due in paying its shoppers, even by a few days, it ought offer heartfelt solid apologies. I have received none from Sentry. OP, have you?

catgrannyof5, Yes I have everything set right with bill.com. Past payments from Sentry have flowed timely.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2017 06:24PM by Rousseau.

Bill.com sucks. I think I'm going to hold off on Sentry shops until they switch to direct deposit.

Outside of guesses, assumptions, story telling, and a general hypothesis: has anyone submitted a Support Ticket utilizing the link from your Home page?

OP, are you saying they sent a one word response by email? Was this to both emails you sent them?

When you check the latest invoice, under Pay History, is your shop listed? There is a direct link on the page there to also Submit a Support Ticket.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2017 01:13PM by isaiah58.

I have not done many assignments with them, but on about 90% of my assignments I have had to submit a ticket for payment. Each time they respond stating there was a processing error, but I am paid soon thereafter. Due to the continuous processing errors on top of an already long payment wait, I do not perform many Sentry jobs.

Agreed, Relly...And...It is hard to work up the energy to chase (already low) payments for shops done 2+ months ago.

@Relly wrote:

I have not done many assignments with them, but on about 90% of my assignments I have had to submit a ticket for payment. Each time they respond stating there was a processing error, but I am paid soon thereafter. Due to the continuous processing errors on top of an already long payment wait, I do not perform many Sentry jobs.

Wow! That is total BS.

Of course, there could be other issues. For example, what if the OP did not actually complete a shop in May, 2017. What if a shopper submits inquiries before their payment is due? Does this count as "disorganization"?

What if a team member involved in the shopper payment process was on vacation, a day off or bereavement leave? What is someone simply made a mistake that had nothing to do with solvency? Heck, what if someone just made a mistake?

What would happen if MSCs adopted a similar attitude toward shoppers? For example, what if every request for clarification of a report was treated like as if a fraudulent report was submitted. My guess is that there would be a lengthy discussion on this forum about the lack of trust and respect shown to shoppers by MSCs.

@Rousseau wrote:

Anytime a MSC doesn't pay on time, one ought be concerned. Late payment points to several problematic realities.

Disorganization at the MSC is a possible cause, such is worrisome because it points to poor management and one must wonder if they are that bad it doing something so simple at paying the bills how can they possible serve their clients. More concerning, however, are to other conditions which late payments suggest. First, that the MSC does not care about its vendors; an entity that does not care about its vendors is just as likely to not care about its employees or its customers and may soon be off to the dust bin. Second, that the MSC is not only suffering from poor cash flow but has management that is not wise enough to have secured a bank line-of-credit to even out cash flow (or was deemed not credit worthy by the banks) and is not ethical enough to suspend payment to the MSCs management and owners before defaulting on responsibilities to microvendors.

Whatever the cause, whenever an MSC is past due in paying its shoppers, even by a few days, it ought offer heartfelt solid apologies. I have received none from Sentry. OP, have you?


edited to add politeness.

catgrannyof5, Yes I have everything set right with bill.com. Past payments from Sentry have flowed timely.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2017 08:46PM by Sentry Marketing.

"What if a team member involved in the shopper payment process was on vacation, a day off or bereavement leave?"

I am always willing to accept mistakes are made and other assorted reasons for a delay here and there. Removing being gone because of a death, a vacation or day off is not among the acceptable reasons. Either bills are set up to be paid prior or another person in the company should be serving as back up. That is a fairly standard business practice.

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

Of course, there could be other issues. For example, what if the OP did not actually complete a shop in May, 2017. What if a shopper submits inquiries before their payment is due? Does this count as "disorganization"?

What if a team member involved in the shopper payment process was on vacation, a day off or bereavement leave? What is someone simply made a mistake that had nothing to do with solvency? Hell, what if someone just made a mistake?

What would happen if MSCs adopted a similar attitude toward shoppers? For example, what if every request for clarification of a report was treated like as if a fraudulent report was submitted. My guess is that there would be a lengthy discussion on this forum about the lack of trust and respect shown to shoppers by MSCs.

Why are 90% of Relly's payments requiring a ticket?
It seems that perhaps you should get out of the bill.com payment process. You're pretty much the only one that's using it that I know of. I work for well over 200 MSCs and out of all of those, you're the only one using it.

Other MSCs use Bill.com. I know Confidential Consumer does too. I have done a bunch of shops from both Sentry and C.C. and have never had an issue being paid. I will agree I am not a fan of Bill.com and would prefer a different method.

Manners manners.... does a shopping company need to swear at the shoppers?

Since I don't know who Relly is, I cannot comment on the situation.

I can confirm the OP did not complete a shop for us in May, 2017.

There are several companies in the industry that use bill.com to pay shoppers. In fact, we are not entirely pleased with the way bill.com is integrated into our payment process so we are migrating to Paypal.

My larger point was about jumping to unsubstantiated conclusions, having mutual respect for each other and being in control of your own perceptions.

@SoCalMama wrote:

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

Of course, there could be other issues. For example, what if the OP did not actually complete a shop in May, 2017. What if a shopper submits inquiries before their payment is due? Does this count as "disorganization"?

What if a team member involved in the shopper payment process was on vacation, a day off or bereavement leave? What is someone simply made a mistake that had nothing to do with solvency? Hell, what if someone just made a mistake?

What would happen if MSCs adopted a similar attitude toward shoppers? For example, what if every request for clarification of a report was treated like as if a fraudulent report was submitted. My guess is that there would be a lengthy discussion on this forum about the lack of trust and respect shown to shoppers by MSCs.

Why are 90% of Relly's payments requiring a ticket?
It seems that perhaps you should get out of the bill.com payment process. You're pretty much the only one that's using it that I know of. I work for well over 200 MSCs and out of all of those, you're the only one using it.

@LisaSTL wrote:

"What if a team member involved in the shopper payment process was on vacation, a day off or bereavement leave?"

I am always willing to accept mistakes are made and other assorted reasons for a delay here and there. Removing being gone because of a death, a vacation or day off is not among the acceptable reasons. Either bills are set up to be paid prior or another person in the company should be serving as back up. That is a fairly standard business practice.

what about preggers? don't those women take like 2-3 months off of work?

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

Since I don't know who Relly is, I cannot comment on the situation.

I can confirm the OP did not complete a shop for us in May, 2017.

There are several companies in the industry that use bill.com to pay shoppers. In fact, we are not entirely pleased with the way bill.com is integrated into our payment process so we are migrating to Paypal.

My larger point was about jumping to u

curious how do u know op didn't complete shop if u don't know who op is?

I too completed a shop for Sentry in May, and the assignment was invoiced on June 16th. I was not paid on July 31st according to their payment policy. I submitted a support ticket on August 2nd, and received a response from Carolyn on August 2nd that the invoice would be paid that week. I received nothing the whole week of August 2nd. I then received another response to the ticket on August 7th from David, which stated my payment has been processed via bill.com. The email also stated that I should allow 2 business days before checking bill.com for confirmation. So here it is August 9th. I still have no confirmation from bill.com, no payment, NOTHING. Oh, and incase anyone is wondering, yes my checking is linked to bill.com.

I was offered an opportunity to do another assignment with Sentry for the same retailer. I really enjoyed doing the shop, but I purposely turned the second one down because I haven't been paid for the first one yet, and don't wanna go through this again. I do see a pattern here, and if the problem is bill.com, then I'll give them another try if they switch to PayPal. That is providing I ever get paid. I've done 31 shops with other MSC's since that one, and they are the only MSC whose payment is outstanding. There are too many other MSC's I can work for who pay on time, than for me to waste my time chasing payments from them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2017 11:02PM by Donna5783.

Was that so hard? Rather than spending time trying to out anonymous posters to blame them for every single problem, a simple admission there are issues with your payment processor goes a long way. It comes under the heading of "@#$%& happens."

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

In fact, we are not entirely pleased with the way bill.com is integrated into our payment process so we are migrating to Paypal.

Funny, Lisa. That saying you alluded to when you said, "It comes under the heading of It comes under the heading of "@#$%& happens."
."
This is exactly what I am trying to avoid. An alert executive does NOT let "@#$%& happen." ....because he/she has systems in place, to MANAGE all of the ;stuff; that occurs. (sick days, vacation, bereavement days or weeks, pregnancy, etc.) That is WHY they are owners and managers. Geez, it seems so simple. Why all the excuse making, Sentry...just pay faster and pay above the norm....then you won't have to spend any time reading this site, that's for sure!

Lisa - Are you ever going to stop beating the "trying to out anonymous posters" drum? It's more than a little tired after all these years. When someone uses a derivative of their email address as their user id, it doesn't take a special prosecutor to determine their identity. Why aren't you concerned with the accuracy of the information posted?

I've never, ever, shied away from taking responsibility for mistakes we make or shortcomings in our processes. As I am sure you are aware, there is always more the story than gets posted on this site.

We agree on one this: things happen. The world is an imperfect place. We don't ignore issues when they are brought to our attention, rather, we get to work on resolving the issue as quickly as the situation permits.

@LisaSTL wrote:

Was that so hard? Rather than spending time trying to out anonymous posters to blame them for every single problem, a simple admission there are issues with your payment processor goes a long way. It comes under the heading of "@#$%& happens."

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

In fact, we are not entirely pleased with the way bill.com is integrated into our payment process so we are migrating to Paypal.

IMO, trying a payment method used by other MSCs only to find it doesn't work qualifies as something we cannot always foresee even if it doesn't absolve a company of trying to make it right. Obviously bill.com works for some people so it can't be considered a disaster from the start. OTOH, sufficient time has passed to compare it to other options. Since Sentry is willing to admit there are problems and has made the decision to move back to a tried and true payment method anyone who likes working with them should be relieved. The pay to work ratio or actual payment terms is an entirely different discussion.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2017 12:10AM by LisaSTL.

From my point of view. I would rather be paid late than not at all. We have seen a number of companies go under, one that recently kept listing shops without the intention of paying us.

My first post here was a complaint about Sentry. Dave did help me "remember" some of the "facts" that I had wrong, while at the same time graciously paying me in full the couple of dollars I felt they owed me due to principle. He also went to work with his staff to address the point of my complaint, recognizing and fixing the small problem. Very few MSCs out there are willing to listen to us. Dave has a multiple links on the portal to open Support Tickets.

I honestly believe that Dave's biggest challenge is protecting the shoppers.His competition isn't offering a better product, they offer less expensive packages which start with paying the shoppers (schedulers, editors) less, not the company.

@Rousseau what qualifies you to make the statements and implied accusations that you touted? What research have you performed related to this specific company?

I am glad to hear you are looking to switch over to Paypal soon.

Never. Just like you apparently aren't going to accept me giving you a little credit for finally doing the right thing. But don't worry, I won't make that mistake again.

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

Lisa - Are you ever going to stop beating the "trying to out anonymous posters" drum? It's more than a little tired after all these years. When someone uses a derivative of their email address as their user id, it doesn't take a special prosecutor to determine their identity. Why aren't you concerned with the accuracy of the information posted?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2017 02:02AM by LisaSTL.

@isaiah58 wrote:

@Rousseau what qualifies you to make the statements and implied accusations that you touted? What research have you performed related to this specific company?

I made no accusations, implied or otherwise, against any specific MSC. I posted reasoning why one ought to be concerned about any firm that does not pay on time. Clearly, every customer has an occasional invoice go astray. However, the prudent vendor always wonders - if only in the back of her/his mind - if an unpaid invoice is a sign of a simple screw up or if it a sign of poor management and a sign that the customer is not long to be a good customer. I have no reasons to suggest that the late payment of OP's invoice is anything other than a one-off mistake. However, I do not believe that it is wise for any shopper not to wonder when an invoice becomes past due given what past due to payments often reflect. Nor can I see why it is in poor form to deconstruct the issue of past due to invoices and point out to those reading what a stream of past due invoices may well indicate. There is some business in our industry that is frequently past due - Sentry is not one of them - and I stand by my analysis that those firms are poorly organized, managed and often unethical.

I shall not air my qualifications, to you, for authoring my analysis.

@foodluvr wrote:

Other MSCs use Bill.com. I know Confidential Consumer does too. I have done a bunch of shops from both Sentry and C.C. and have never had an issue being paid. I will agree I am not a fan of Bill.com and would prefer a different method.

My bad. Sentry and Confidential Consumer (never heard of them). That's a really low percentage of MSCs. 0.5%?

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

Of course, there could be other issues. For example, what if the OP did not actually complete a shop in May, 2017. What if a shopper submits inquiries before their payment is due? Does this count as "disorganization"?

What if a team member involved in the shopper payment process was on vacation, a day off or bereavement leave? What is someone simply made a mistake that had nothing to do with solvency? Heck, what if someone just made a mistake?

What would happen if MSCs adopted a similar attitude toward shoppers? For example, what if every request for clarification of a report was treated like as if a fraudulent report was submitted. My guess is that there would be a lengthy discussion on this forum about the lack of trust and respect shown to shoppers by MSCs. .

[/quote]

This is a reasonable viewpoint. Since I have been investigating mystery shopping and reading posts on this website it has been a real eye-opener.

Whilst most people have a degree of professionalism. Judging from some of the posts, it can be said that a large number of posters just like complaining about things without taking responsibility. These clowns would be fired if they were employed by most organizations.

Instead of whining, get your acts together. Open your own mystery shopping businesses and start making real money.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2017 08:16AM by moosehoose.

@moosehoose wrote:

Whilst most people have a degree of professionalism. Judging from some of the posts, it can be said that a large number of posters just like complaining about things without taking responsibility. These clowns would be fired if they were employed by most organizations.

Instead of whining, get your acts together. Open your own mystery shopping businesses and start making real money.

u r suggesting that clowns open msc? you'd be first in line to sign w/them right?

@moosehoose wrote:

Instead of whining, get your acts together. Open your own mystery shopping businesses and start making real money.

Can't do that. Some of the ICs have a 2-year non-compete clause.